1921 
5593 



REMARKS 



UNITED STATES INTERVENTION 



HAITI, 

WITH COMMENTS UPON THE 

CORRESPONDENCE 

CONNECTED WITH IT. 

BY B. C. CLARK. 



BOS TON: 

185 3. 

EASTBURN'S PRESS, 



REMARKS 



UNITED STATES INTERVENTION 



WITH COMMENTS UPON THE 



COB'EESPOOENCE 



CONNECTED WITH IT. 



BY B. C. CLARK. 

M 



BOSTON: 
185 3. 

EASTBUEN'S PRESS. 






V 



/* 






f- ?yz>- 



REMARKS 



UPON UNITED STATES INTERVENTION IN HAYTI. 



" 'T will be recorded as a precedent, 
And many an error by tbe same example 
Will rush into the State." 

Since the publication of "A Plea for Hayti," the 
correspondence between the Haytien Minister of For- 
eign Affairs, and the agents of the three powers who 
attempted to coerce the Government of Hayti, has 
found its way into the columns of the American news- 
papers, and has been copied into some of our most dis- 
tinguished journals. As a general thing, the tone' of 
the press without regard to party, has been most unfa- 
vorable to the United States in relation to this mission, 
and also to the mode which was adopted for carrying 
out its object. 

The fact that an interference like that which has 
been witnessed, was deemed proper by the Government 
of the United States, denotes a foregone conclusion on 
the part of the Administration highly prejudicial to 
the Government of Hayti ; and the publication of the 
correspondence of R. M. Walsh, Esq., the United 



4 HAITI. 

States Commissioner, is calculated to justify this case of 
active intervention. 

In alluding (in our first paper on Hayti) to the Mis- 
sion appointed by the Hon. Mr. Calhoun some nine 
years ago, it will be perceived that we put the most lib- 
eral construction upon the doings of that great states- 
man. Indeed, notwithstanding the complaints which 
were made at the appointment of that Mission, it is 
quite manifest that it was induced by misrepresenta- 
tion. Whether the Hon. Secretary was afterwards sat- 
isfied, that the one hundred and thirty thousand white 
Dominicans who claimed protection at the hands of the 
Government of the United States, were, with the ex- 
ception of some three to five thousand, all " men in 
buckram suits," is uncertain, but to the immortal fame 
of that distinguished man, he did not so far as we 
know or believe, ever swerve from the path of manli- 
ness and honor, by seeking to disparage Hayti through 
the letters of his secret agent, or by advising a practi- 
cal interference with her domestic relations. 

The Mission of 1851 was of a vastly different char- 
acter, and the writer submits that he approaches to 
even a brief consideration of it with great unwilling- 
ness. It is true that a great and unprovoked wrong 
had been inflicted upon Hayti, and that there had ex- 
isted ample cause for grave complaint, but notwith- 
standing this, the writer considered that agitation 
would be productive of no good to any party, and he 
believes that no occasion would have been taken to 
enlarge upon this Mission, but for the publication of 



H A Y T I . 5 

the correspondence ; except for this, the offensive dic- 
tatorial interference (which might justly have raised a 
cry among the Haytiens) would have been as dead in 
history as it was in its influence upon the Chief of 
Hayti. 

With a feeling of deep regret at the inconsistent 
position which the United States occupies in this matter, 
the writer submits that he would be recreant to his 
cause, false to his professions, and justly chargeable 
with having sacrificed principle to jDarty, if he did not 
respond to the injurious suggestions which have grown 
out of this unfortunate affair. 

The American Commissioner, R. M. Walsh, Esq., 
has been severely censured for the irrelevancy of some 
of his communications, and for other matters connected 
with the business of the Mission ; but in view of the 
remarkable character of the Mission, we feel much 
more inclined to ponder and comment upon the senti- 
ments of the Commissioner, than we do to unite in 
censures at his expression of them. 

It is true that many of the Commissioner's remarks to 
the Hon. Mr. Webster were uncalled for, and would seem 
to have but little connection with the object of his Mis- 
sion. Indeed, the Commissioner very properly suggests, 
that he " trusts the Hon. Secretary will pardon him if he 
sometimes ivanders from the serious tone of a despatch." 
But although many of his suggestions were uncalled 
for, and may fairly be considered as extra-professional, 
yet the opinion of any intelligent gentleman who has 
spent a few weeks or a few months in Hayti, is deserv- 



6 H A YT I. 

ing of respectful consideration ; and in the case of the 
Commissioner, it will be admitted that his remarks on 
Hayti are not without foundation ; for there is not a 
country on the face of the earth to which many of them 
will not apply. At the same time we think that in 
many important particulars, he has imbibed very erro- 
neous impressions, and that his expressed convictions 
do great wrong to the Haytien character. 

In relation to the " fearful atrocities" and " bloody 
tragedies " which the Commissioner writes about, it is 
our firm conviction, based upon some personal knowl- 
edge, and upon minute and extensive inquiry, that there 
is not one of the United States, which in proportion to 
its numbers, can shame Hayti by a comparison of crim- 
inal calendars for the past twenty years. We say fur- 
ther, that there is not in our opinion a single village 
in New England, in which the people are more remark- 
able for mildness, hospitality, and freedom from crime, 
than are the peasantry of Hayti ; and no part of the 
world in which the defenceless traveller is safer than in 
the mountains of St. Domingo. 

The Commissioner alludes in disparaging terms to 
the Romish Priests of the country. Are they any worse 
than the Jesuits of France, Spain or Italy I We think 
not, but 

" Plate sin with gold, 
And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks, 
Arm it in rags a pigmy straw doth pierce it." 

The Commissioner, in alluding to the condition of 
the Island when under the dominion of the French, 



HA YT I. 1 

calls it an " exulting and abounding land" a land 
literally "flowing with milk and honey;" — that it was 
an " exulting and abounding land," is certainly true ; it 
exulted in vice and abounded in cruelty, and in relation 
to the " milk and honey," we admit that if the " cities 
of the plain" were a la ad " flowing with milk and 
honey," then was St. Domingo in 1790 a truly pros- 
perous country, and not otherwise. 

A distinguished man has said, " a nation may be 
conquered, trodden down, her living sons in chains, her 
dead the prey of vultures, and still leave a bright exam- 
ple, a glorious history, to after times. But when folly 
and wickedness have ruled the hour, and disaster is the 
legitimate child of profligacy and crime, the page that 
records it is but a record of infamy, and pity for mis- 
fortune becomes a crime against justice." 

Let us see how this will apply to the colony of St. 
Domingo. Rainsford, in his history of the Island, says, 
in allusion to colonial civilization — 

" Flushed with opulence and dissipation, the majority 
of the planters in St. Domingo had arrived at a state of 
sentiment the most vitiated and manners equally de- 
praved ; while, injured by an example so contagious, the 
slaves had become more dissolute than those of any Brit- 
ish Island. If the master was proud, voluptuous, and 
crafty, the slaves were equally vicious and often riotous ; 
the punishment of one was but the consequent of his own 
excess, but that of the other ivas often cruel and unnat- 
ural. The proprietor would bear no rival in his parish, 
and ivould not bend even to the ordinance of justice." 



HAYTI 



John Macgregor, the English historian, and a member 
of Parliament, in relation to the same subject, says — 

" The first serious symptoms of revolt, it will he observ- 
ed, were not made by the slave population, hut from the 
first interference of the National Assembly of France, 
and afterwards by the supporters and advocates of the 
people of color, and the Society of Amis des Noirs. It 
has astonished those who knew not the fact, that during 

THE DISTURBANCES WHICH HAD PREVAILED, THE SLAVE 
POPULATION SHOULD HAVE REMAINED PASSIVE OBSERVERS 

of the contest. It may be at the same time remarked, 
that the landed proprietors and planters were become 
wealthy ; their extensive plantations, with a rich and pro- 
ductive soil, and with a favorable climate, were in a high 
state of cultivation. Their manners and habits became 
depraved in about the same ratio as they advanced in 
prosperity. They are asserted to have been vain, haughty, 
and voluptuous, and, unlike their Spanish neighbors, they 
inflicted excessive punishments in exacting labor from 
their slaves. Their sensualities had also, it is affirmed, 
excited very general disgust. 

" Society had, in fact, become so depraved, that vice 
was gloried in. When the slaves ivere at length insti- 
gated to join in the revolt, it is not surprising that the 
untaught slave should be led by pernicious example to 
indulge in iniquitous and immoral practices, and in the 
ungovernable propensities of his master. It was, in fact, 
the immorality of the master which prepared the slave for 
the extraordinary cruelties, which they afterwards inflict- 
ed in the spirit of revenge.''' 



HAYT I. 9 

There were of course, some exceptions among the 
colonists ; but they were few. in number — " a spot of 
azure in a clouded sky." Among these exceptions, 
Charles de Lemeth was, perhaps, the most distinguish- 
ed. He was one of the largest proprietors in St. 
Domingo, but " colonial civilization " was marked by 
such atrocities, that he sacrificed his whole fortune to 
aid in its demolition. M. Bayou, Manager of the Breda 
Estate, was also an honorable exception to the general- 
ity of those who were in power. It will be remem- 
bered, that Toussaint was a field slave on the Breda 
plantation, and that as a reward for his faithfulness, M. 
Bayou promoted him to the place of postillion in the 
establishment. It has been said, that beyond this favor 
nothing was ever done for him by the Manager, and 
that he acquired knowledge and distinction by his own 
unaided efforts. On the other hand, there are better 
reasons for believing, that M. Bayou having early dis- 
covered the true character of the black, not only allow- 
ed him the use of his books, but that he actually aided 
him by personal instruction. 

The subsequent course of Toussaint would seem to 
indicate the extent of his obligation to his friend. He 
would not, and never did join in the revolt against the 
whites ; and while indiscriminate extermination was 
the order with both parties, he, at the risk of his life, 
not only secured the Manager from all harm, but by 
his genius and activity, succeeded in placing him in the 
United States in safety. Neither station] nor time 
seem ever to have chilled the genial current of Tous- 



10 H A Y T I . 

saint's high soul, for when he became chief of the 
Island, he made shipments of produce continually and 
to the end, to M. Bayou, who had settled in Baltimore. 

Doubtless the Manager had deserved all this, and if 
Toussaint had done less than he did, he would have 
disparaged his race in their claim to grateful hearts.* 

We have given the statements of the historians, 
Rainsford and Macgregor, in relation to what St. Do- 
mingo was when under the dominion of the French, 
and they are abundantly sustained by other authority, 
yet the Commissioner says, — " In proportion as the recol- 
lections and traditions of the old colonial civilization are 
fading away, and the imitative propensity ivhich is so 
strong a characteristic of the African, is losing its oppor- 
tunity of exercise* the black inhabitants are reverting to 
that primitive state from which they were elevated by a 
contact with the whites." "We say unhesitatingly that 

* We cannot refrain from calling the attention of the reader to one of the many 
interesting incidents connected with the sad story of the revolution. It is related 
by Bryan Edwards, the English Historian, in the following language, (75, 76 pp.) 

Mons. and Madame Baillon, their daughter and son-in law, and two white ser- 
vants, resided on a mountain plantation about thirty miles from Cape Frangois. 
They were apprised of the revolt by one of their own slaves, who was himself in 
the conspiracy, but promised, if possible, to save the lives of his master and his 
family. Having no immediate means of providing for their escape, he conducted 
them into an adjacent wood: after which he went and joined the revolters. The 
following night, he found an opportunity of bringing them provisions from the 
rebel camp. The second night he returned again, with a further supply of provis- 
ions 5 but declared that it would be out of his power to give them any further 
assistance. After this, they saw nothing of the negro for three days ; but at the 
end of that time he came again, and directed the family how to make their way to 
a river which led to Port Margot, assuring them they would find a canoe on a 
part of the river which he described. They followed his directions, found the 
canoe, and got safely into it; but were overset by the rapidity of the current, and 



HAYTI. 11 

the " recollections and traditions " of the old colonial 
civilization are replete with bloody instructions and 
fatal examples, and further, that one of the brightest 
hopes for the future of Hayti, rests upon the fact that 
the blacks have not exercised their " imitative propen- 
sity" in relation to the things which have been set be- 
fore them — it furnishes the strongest evidence of their 
" innate superiority," on the score of humanity and the 
forgiveness of wrongs. No one can ponder the recol- 
lections of the old colonial civilization, without feel- 
ings of deep sorrow. At the same time, no one can 
wonder at its disastrous termination, since 

"If the rulers be lewd and impious, chastisement will come upon that people. 
" The bitterest scourge in a land is ungodliness in them that govern it." 

The colonists of St. Domingo were not, at last, left 
in ignorance of the fact that their misfortunes were 
consequent upon their own depravity. The Commis- 

after a narrow escape, thought it best to return to their retreat in the mountains. 
The negro, anxious for their safety, again found them out and directed them to a 
broader part of the river, where he assured them he had provided a boat ; but said 
it was the last effort he could make to save them. They went accordingly, but 
not finding the boat, gave themselves up for lost, when the faithful negro again 
appeared like their guardian angel. He brought with him pigeons, poultry, and 
bread ; afld conducted the family, by slow marches, in the night, along the banks 
of the river, until they were within sight of the wharf at Port Margot ; when tell- 
ing them they were entirely out of danger, he took his leave forever, and went to 
join the rebels. The family were in the woods nineteen nights." 

This case of attachment is remarkable, only from the fact, that there was but 
little incentive for it. The historian remarks that it was the more affecting on 
that account. It was entirely unlooked for. 

We find many evidences, that at the period named, even a moderate degree of 
kindness towards individuals of the race, inspired feelings of gratitude so strongly 
marked by constancy and devoted ness, that neither the dread of torture, nor the 
fear of death, could ever shake them. 



12 HAYTI. 

sioner says — " It is a conviction which has been forced 
upon me by what I have learned here, that negroes only 
cease to be children when they degenerate into savages." 

It may be true that all of us are born " dead in tres- 
passes and sin," but we think it will hardly be conceded 
that any race of beings bearing the image of God, must 
necessarily become savages when they cease to be chil- 
dren. It may be that Ethiopia will for a while stretch 
forth her hands in vain, and that missionary enterprise 
may be hindered, and individual efforts blasted by the 
selfish, blighting policy of civilized nations, but the sin 
will not rest upon her; theirs will be the guilt, theirs 
the deep damnation. 

The Commissioner says, " the whole power of the na- 
tion is lodged in the hands of the Emperor" yet he 
alleges, that the same Legislature which voted him a 
large sum of money for some " absurd costume" refused 
25,000 francs for public schools. Now it is a well 
known fact, that the present Government of Hayti has 
done all that can be done by any Government for com- 
mon school education ; we have already said it has not 
only established schools for all, but that being aware 
that indolence and thoughtlessness are among the char- 
acteristics of the lower classes, it has passed stringent 
laws to insure the use of them. Parents are not allowed 
to neglect the education of their children. 

In relation to the doings of the Legislature, it ap- 
pears strange that this man, in whose hands the whole 
power or the nation is lodged, this Chief, who is the 
" army's idol and the council's head, whose smile is 



HATT I. 13 

fortune and whose will is law," should bow him to 
the Senate for money to pay for some "absurd 
cos ume." 

But there is not at the worst, any thing very grave 
in the Commissioner's suggestion. Nations much more 
enlightened than Hayti, have committed greater errors 
than have been charged to her in relation to her appro- 
priations. "We would ask if our own history is without 
a parallel ] Have we not seen practical illustrations by 
both of the great parties of the country, of the doctrine 
that " to the victors belong the spoils 1 " Have not 
each of these parties, in turn, truthfully charged the 
other with almost every conceivable species of political 
scoundrelism and depravity 1 Is it not true that on 
one occasion, consequent upon the astounding defalca- 
tions of the office-holders, the Secretary of the Treasury 
was compelled to recommend retrenchment, and that 
pensions, harbors and light-houses, were named as 
the subjects of it 1 Does any one forget that when this 
last matter was brought up in Congress, a member in 
his place said, in substance, (we quote from memory) — 
" And what do you suppose, Mr. Chairman, are to be 
the subjects of this new and sudden economy 1 Look 
into the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, and 
you will find out. Well, Sir, what are they 1 Pen- 
sions, harbors and light-houses. First of all, the scar- 
red veterans of the revolution are to be deprived of a 
portion of the small pittance doled out to them by the 
country. How many of them will you have to send 
forth as beggars on the very soil which they wrenched 



14 H A Y TI. 

from the hand of tyranny % How many harbors will 
it take- — those nests of commerce to which the canvas- 
winged birds of the ocean fly for safety'? How 
many light-houses will it take — how many of those 
bright eyes of the ocean are to be put ouf? How 
many of those faithful sentinels who stand along 
our rocky coast to give timely notice to the mariner 
when the lee shore threatens — how many of these, I 
ask, are to be discharged from their humane service 1 
Sir, my blood boils at the cold-blooded atrocity with 
which this Administration proposes thus to sacrifice the 
very family jewels of the country, to pay for the conse- 
quences of its own profligacy." 

We allude to this particular complaint for no politi- 
cal object, but simply because the plundering of the 
Treasury at that particular moment was fraught with 
memorable consequences. We do not admit for a mo- 
ment that the cases alluded to are isolated — on the 
contrary, partisan services have at different periods been 
lavishly rewarded, and this, too, while the honest claims 
of citizens upon the Government have been fraudu- 
lently denied. The French and Spanish claims are of 
this class. 

Now if such interests as those which have been 
named, have been jeoparded through the "profligacy" 
of the Government of the United States, surely no sub- 
sequent Administration ought to reflect very severely 
upon Hayti for not expending all her means on schools, 
especially when, if it be true, that 'negroes only 

CEASE TO BE CHILDREN WHEN THEY BECOME SAV- 



HAITI. 15 

ages, learning would only hasten their degeneracy into 
barbarism. 

The Commissioner suggests that the influences of 
religion, of literature, of science, and of art, do not 
exert the least practical sway on Hayti. Without ques- 
tioning the general correctness of his conviction in this 
particular, we ask what practical sway is exerted by re- 
ligion, literature, or science, in any one of the Republics 
of South America, that is not felt in Hayti % There 
must, after all, be some standard by which we are to 
test the claims of Hayti to the respectful consideration 
of the United States, and the fairest way of determin- 
ing the question would seem to be by a comparison of 
her course and present position with those of other 
young nations, who in their relations with us stand 
upon an equality with England and France. The Re- 
publics of South America are of this class ; they have 
enjoyed the recognition and the friendship of the Gov- 
ernment of the United States for more than thirty 
years. It will not be questioned that this friendly 
recognition gave them great confidence and strength, 
nor will it be denied that they had at the commence- 
ment of their career, and have now, more intelligence 
than the Haytiens in general ever possessed. Now we 
ask how is it with them today as independent countries 1 
"Why, not a breeze sweeps from the South that does 
not echo with the clash of resounding arms, and tell of 
anarchy, confusion, and bloodshed. 

Faction has risen upon faction continually for many 
years, and the sad consequences of civil discord have 



16 



HA YT I. 



been witnessed by surrounding nations. " Fearful 
atrocities" and " Moody tragedies" are ever the attend- 
ants upon fierce civil war, but these governments have 
been left to manage their own affairs in their own way, 
and it is quite certain that foreign interference would 
no more settle the points upon which they differ, or 
subserve the cause of humanity, than would foreign 
intervention affect favorably the system of slavery in 
the United States. 

No one will deny that the Republics of South Amer- 
ica have been, since the day of their existence, vastly 
more unfortunate in relation to internal dissensions, 
"fearful atrocities" and " bloody tragedies" than Hayti 
has been during the same period ; but no one asks or 
desires that they shall be blotted out from the Map of 
Nations. No public agent of humanity is sent to either 
of these countries, — no Commissioner writes in relation 
to them, that their " destruction can scarcely be consid- 
ered a cause of grief and their epitaph will have no claim 
to be written with a pen dipped in tears ; " and yet this 
is the sentiment communicated by the Commissioner to 
the Hon. Secretary of State, in relation to Hayti, and 
the communication is published throughout the United 
States. 

It is both natural and proper to inquire how it is 
that from among some five or six feeble Powers, Hayti 
alone — the only Government among them not recog- 
nized by the United States, is found to be a fit subject 
for intervention. 
, It is perfectly well remembered that the Government 



H A YTI . 17 

of the United States, in the exercise of what appeared 
to be an inflexible, unyielding, cast-iron integrity, de- 
clined to consider for a moment the eloquent appeals of 
the Hungarian Chief in behalf of his people, and that 
the course of the Government was justified by the most 
distinguished men of the country. Non-intervention 
was applauded to the very echo that did applaud again, 
and the grounds upon which it was defended, were 
both popular and numerous. Some politicians argued 
that we had nothing to do with considerations of hu- 
manity, others expressed contempt for that " manifest 
destiny" which had been urged as a plea for intermed- 
dling with the affairs of other nations ; others, again, 
declared that men and nations made their own desti- 
nies, and that they had seen no manifestation of the 
Divine Will, which called upon the United States to 
perform missionary duty. Some there were who enter- 
tained serious doubts as to embroiling the country in a 
war with Russia. How far the Government of the 
United States was impelled in its action by a considera- 
tion of the last suggestion, cannot perhaps be deter- 
mined, but it is certain that at the very moment when 
non-intervention was pronounced to be a vital princi- 
ple with us, founded no less in policy than justice, the 
Government of the United States was going hand in 
hand with two great Powers, (who, as nations, " know 
no touch of pity,") upon the poor business of interven- 
tion with a weak but friendly power. 

That this interference, so far as the Government of 
the United States was concerned, was uncalled for and 



18 H A Y TI. 

entirely inconsistent with its professions, is perfectly 
manifest, and. by the light of recent developments, it 
will be clearly seen that it has, in more than one par- 
ticular, placed the country in a false and most unfortu- 
nate position. A late number of the Courier d' Havre 
promulgates the fact, that as far back as 1843, the 
Dominicans, the nulliflers of the Spanish part of St. 
Domingo, received a pledge from France that she 
would render to them, " efficient assistance both to con- 
quer and to maintain their absolute independence." As a 
return for the promise of this unqualified protectorate, 
the Dominicans ceded to France the peninsula of 
Samana to found a permanent establishment. 

It will be remembered that the Bay of Samana is one 
of the finest and most valuable among all the bays in 
the West Indies. It commands the Mona passage. It 
is capacious enough to hold the ships of the whole 
world ; it is free from the hurricanes which are often 
experienced in the neighboring islands ; and it is not 
easy to estimate its importance to nations interested in 
the trade of South America and the West Indies. And 
yet this same Havre journal says the negotiations 
which led to this result, "were long and difficulty 
Why were they long and difficult \ Samana was a 
rich prize. Why was there any hesitation on the part 
of the French 1 Simply because the act was one of 
gross outrage on the rights of Hayti, and was calcu- 
lated, if promulgated, to excite the indignation of other 
countries. Flayti, the French knew, might not be able 
to avenge the wrong, but the United States, although 



HAYTI. 19 

not friendly to Hayti, might be unwilling to see a pro- 
tectorate of such a character established in this hem- 
isphere, and in a place of so much importance to her 
commercial interests. Therefore it was that the neg-o- 
tiations were " long and difficult." 

Within a year after the demi-ratification of the treaty 
which secured to France an important territory belong- 
ing to the Government of Hayti, the party of the " ex- 
ceeding high mountain " claimed from France protec- 
tion against the consequences of their rebellion. The 
French king was willing to aid them, and did aid them 
by the presence of his West India squadron, but he 
hesitated to fulfil the other and more important part of 
the treaty. However, this formidable show of protec- 
tion appears to have succeeded, for the Dominican chief 
immediately proclaimed the independence of Dominica, 
This done, he called upon France to instal at Samana, 
the " efficient protectorate " agreed upon in the treaty of 
1843. The French king listened to this call with 
about as little satisfaction as a Dutchman would prob- 
ably exhibit if compelled to light his pipe by the 
tongue of a salamander. At length, for very obvious 
reasons, King Louis Phillippe deemed it wise to let 
" I dare not, wait upon I would," and the " efficient 
protectorate" was not established in accordance with the 
treaty of 1843. 

Enough, however, had been done by the French for 
all injurious purposes affecting the rights of the Gov- 
ernment of Hayti. The fears entertained by the 
French in regard to the consequences of this enter- 



H A YTI. 



prise, are sufficiently indicated by the " Courier d' 
Havre" itself, which says in relation to the demand of 
the Dominican chief for the fulfilment of the treaty — 
" But neither arguments nor entreaties, nor even the 
threat of throwing himself into the arms of another 
power, could overcome the repugnance of King Louis 
Phillippe for a step which might result in diplomatic 

COMPLICATIONS." 

From what has appeared in the French journals, and 
from the pains taken to prepare the United States for 
the full exercise of a French protectorate in Dominica, 
it is probable that Napoleon III. has none of that re- 
pugnance to " DIPLOMATIC COMPLICATIONS," which Was 

so distinctly manifested by King Louis Phillippe, but 
that France, whenever it may suit her purpose, will be 
found in the occupancy of Samana. Thus it is seen 
that, some eight years after the establishment of this 
mongrel and fear and trembling protectorate, the Uni- 
ted States are found acting in concert with France 
against the Government of Hayti, whose territory had 
been wrongfully taken and appropriated to the use of 
this (now) dangerous European power. 

The possession of Cuba, or of its most commanding 
bay, by the British Government, would involve no prin- 
ciple more important to this country, than does the 
ownership of Samana by the French. And yet it is 
seen that the United States have volunteered to act as 
protector to this French protectorate. 

The motive of France in her late movement, would 
appear to be plain enough, and the policy of England 



HAYTI. 21 

equally clear ; her plea, like that of France, for inter- 
vention, was humanity, but her humanity in this con- 
nection was about as substantial, and almost as trans- 
parent, as are the living skeletons of her coolies in 
Jamaica. 

England, always clever in the science of political 
economy, was never stronger in that way than now ; 
the old Lion's paw was never more elastic than at this 
moment — there appears to be no hole too small for it. 

It has been said that the first question England now 
asks is, " whether the thing will pay." It is precisely 
so, and if it be true that Sir Robert Peel, the most 
brilliant statesman of England, felt it incumbent upon 
himself to speak for a considerable time upon the qual- 
ity of the onion seed, and of how much revenue it 
would probably yield to the Government, we may feel 
quite sure that his successor is not dead to the fact that 
this country is fast monopolising an extensive trade 
with Hayti, of which she for many years had the lion's 
share. 

In uniting with France and England in an offensive 
interference with the affairs of Hayti, an independent 
and friendly State, it is quite apparent that the Gov- 
ernment of the United States were pulling nuts out of 
the fire, solely for the benefit of the other intervention- 
ists. This intervention on the part of this country 
would have been attended with highly injurious conse- 
quences to our trade, but that the Haytiens were 
aware of the grasping character of the commercial pol- 
icy of England, and were also made to understand that 



22 H A YT I. 

there existed in the United States a great but honest 
misapprehension in regard to their position, their char- 
acter, and their intentions. 

Unfortunate and inconsistent as this case of inter- 
vention appears to be in the eyes of the country, there 
are bearing upon it complaints, other than those which 
are based upon the palpable violation of the time- 
honored policy of Washington. But it would subserve 
no good purpose to consider them now. It may, how- 
ever, be proper to call the attention of the reader, to 
the manner in which the three great Powers approached 
the Government of Hayti. Sir Henry Bulwer, at 
Washington, in his orders to the British Consul at 
Port au Prince, writes — " You will take care to make 
any menace of force in such vague terms, as would not 
actually compromise Her Majesty's Government to employ 
force, until it shall have learned from you what 
species of force would be necessary, in order to arrive 
at the results which you deem that a blockade would 
not be sufficient to obtain." The Government of the 
United States, with a knowledge of these instructions, 
" entirely concurs with them" and expects its agents will 
" he governed by them." 

In accordance with this very unhappy specimen of 
diplomacy, the three agents solemnly and officially 
affirmed that Great Britain, France and the United 
States had " determined" that Hayti should grant a 
peace, or at least a ten years' truce, to St. Domingo, and 
declared that it would be at her peril if she refused to 
act according to that determination. Hayti did refuse, 



H A Y T I . 23 

and this great union of demonstration utterly failed in 
its object. The determination and the threat of the 
three great Powers went for nothing. 

In this connection, we submit that the Government 
of the United States in joining this crusade, was uniting 
against a chief with whom it had no diplomatic rela- 
tions, and of whom it knew nothing except from ex 
parte representations. These representations, as we 
have before said, were in the main mere illusions ; the 
war of color and the 130,000 white Dominicans were 
springes to entrap the unwary — pious frauds. 

Intervention, and even coercion, might certainly be 
both humane and proper, if exercised towards a horde 
of acknowledged cannibals or barbarians. But we think 
that irrespective of any consideration of that homage 
which the United States professes to pay to the princi- 
ple of non-intervention, there is neither justice nor pol- 
icy in exercising dictatorial " interference" and mena- 
cing language towards an orderly, independent and 
friendly State; and especially against a Government 
which, in relation to one important point, religious 
toleration, (vital to the highest good of a people,) had 
shown itself superior to some of the most refined 
and polished nations of Europe. 

It is well known that as soon as Hayti proclaimed 
religious toleration, some of her citizens went (consci- 
entiously no doubt) for a "higher law" and seceded. 
Perhaps they ought not to be impugned for this, but 
certainly they can have on that score no claim to the 
sympathy of the people of the United States, and it was 



24 H A Y T I . 

obviously unfair for them to urge other excuses as the 
main causes for secession. 

In abandoning the legitimate Government, they as- 
sumed precisely what one of the United States would 
assume, if it should rebel against the Union, because 
the Federal Government had declined to accede to its 
demand for the adoption of a particular creed, to the 
exclusion of all other shades of belief and forms of 
worship. Let us suppose for a moment that the State 
of New York should secede from this Union because 
the general Government had refused her claim to the 
"sole right" throughout this country, of the Roman 
Catholic religion. Here we have a parallel so far as it 
goes, and novel enough would such a case appear. Its 
strangeness, however, would be increased, if from her 
isolated position, the seceding State could not at once 
be reclaimed by the Federal Government, and some 
foreign Power should deny the authority of the Union 
over its wandering star. Such an interference would 
doubtless be considered by the people of the United 
States as very grievous. This figure, however, fails to 
illustrate the case — to find a parallel, we must imagine 
the interposing party to be a powerful nation, with 
twenty times our population, intelligent in proportion 
to its numbers, with a people brave, energetic, enter- 
prising, humane, tolerant and prosperous beyond exam- 
ple. We must feel that while this great nation had 
sought, acknowledged, and cherished humble acquaint- 
ances in Southern seas and Northern latitudes, it had 
manifested less interest in us, than it had in the sound- 



H A Y T I . 25 

ings of the Dead Sea ; that in brief, it had never recog- 
nized even our existence as a nation. 

We must imagine the influences consequent upon 
treatment so injurious and degrading to our country. 
We must suppose that we had, after pondering our 
humiliating position induced by the concentrated neg- 
lect, contumely and contempt of forty years, considered 
ourselves at least safe from any hurtful contact with 
this great nation. And then, to approach a parallel, 
we must imagine that while the just pride of our 
country was humbled and festering in that ignoble se- 
curity which its insignificance alone had commanded, 
our Department of State is called upon by an agent of 
this great Power, backed by a huge war steamer at 
anchor under the windows of the Capitol, to listen to 
the solemn declaration of this great Power, that it 
would be at the peril of the United States, if she did 
not submit to the wishes of the nullifying State — or in 
other words, if she did not abandon that cherished prin- 
ciple of religious toleration, which the great Power 
itself had, from its earliest infancy, most nobly de- 
fended. 

Here we have an idea of the position in which Hayti 
(a country whose sovereignty is acknowledged by the 
most powerful nations of the earth) was placed by inter- 
vention. It has, however, been seen that she maintain- 
ed herself like a Queen, and that vain menaces, vague 
threats, the blockade, and the solemn declarations of 
the three great Dictators, fell like snow-flakes on the 
sea. But the consciousness of right does not always 






26 H A Y T I . 

shield either a small nation, or an humble man, from 
injury at the hands of the powerful. With less firm- 
ness or less ability than the chief of Hayti displayed, 
consequences fatal to the increasing prosperity of his 
country, would have been witnessed. 

The Government of the United States has deemed it 
not inconsistent with the public interest, that the spec- 
ulations of its Commissioner should be placed before 
the country. Many of his suggestions are calculated, 
if not designed, to justify in some degree this unparal- 
leled case of intervention ; some of the most import- 
ant of them are entirely gratuitous, but we will not 
object to them on that account, nor complain of the 
manner in which they have been promulgated. If the 
Commissioner's convictions are well founded, no lover 
of truth will cavil at the manner in which they have 
been made known, and we cheerfully submit that if his 
ideas of a " land floiving with milk and honey " are just, 
if his complaint, that the blacks have failed to exercise 
their " imitative propensity" in regard to the examples 
of colonial civilization, is founded in wisdom ; if, in 
brief, it be really true, that " negroes only cease to he 
'children when they become savages" then have our hopes 
for Hayti been like " the baseless fabric of a vision," 
and we will take our place among rainbow theorists 
and Utopian dreamers. But we believe that enough 
has been said and proved, to show conclusively that in 
the matter of self-government as well as in all other 
material points, the Haytiens stand first among the 
young nations Avhich have been named. In relation to 



HAITI. 27 

diplomatic ability, we refer with, peculiar satisfaction 
(so far as Hayti is concerned) to the Haytien Minister's 
correspondence with the agents of the three Powers. 
His letters are singularly proper. The solemn declar- 
ation OF THE DETERMINATION OF GREAT BRITAIN, 

France, and the United States, failed to "fright 
the Isle from her propriety." The Minister did not 
have recourse to " vague terms ; " his reply was manly, 
and liable to no misconstruction ; his letters are before 
the world, and they will fill a bright and honorable 
page in the history of his country. 

In conclusion, we will turn for one moment to a con- 
sideration of those in the young Nations which have 
been named, who do not mingle with the business of 
Government. How do the representatives of the com- 
mercial interests of these different powers compare with 
each other 1 We will not disparage those of the Re- 
publics, but we say that in no country in the world is 
there a higher standard of commercial integrity, or a 
more scrupulous regard for the laws of reposed confi- 
dence than will be found among the Haytien and for- 
eign merchants in the sea port towns of Hayti. 

In regard to the masses, those who are engaged in 
rural occupations, the people of the interior — How, we 
ask, is it with them ? Is the cultivator of South Amer- 
ica more industrious, more honest, more hospitable than 
the Haytien peasant \ We have seen them both, and 
we answer, No. 

In relation to the products of Hayti, the Commis- 
sioner quotes the language of a foreigner who had been 



28 HAITI. 

in the Island for a long time. " V/hen I arrived here, 
(said the foreigner.) there was abundance of every 
thing ; now, there is a want of every thing."* 

It is of course true that the capabilities of St. Domingo 
have not been taxed to their utmost limit. The re- 
sources of such countries never are fully developed by 
voluntary labor. But notwithstanding the Commis- 
sioner's suggestions in regard to the absence of salutary 
influences in Hayti, we think results will prove that 
there exist among the Haytiens, incentives to labor not 
common among mere children or savages. 

Upon an examination of the statistics, it will be 
found that her commerce is quite large, exceedingly 
large for such a people as the Commissioner pictures. 
Her trade with the United States alone, is equal to that 
of Venezuela, Bolivia, the Argentine and Cisap- 
latine Republics and Peru altogether; it will also 
be found that Mexico, with a population of eight mil- 
lions, (sixteen times larger than that of Hayti,) took 
from the United States in 1851, #330,000 less than 
Hayti, and employed 26,000 tons less of our shipping. 
In the year ending December, 1852, no less than 330 
cargoes were exchanged between Hayti and the single 

* It may be that this individual was not unlike the Truro man, who, having no 
taste for " the romance of the sea," abandoned the sandy shores of Cape Cod, for a 
fertile spot in the West, where for many years he exercised " a masterly inactivity." 
In reply to the inquiry of a New Englander who chanced that way, as to his suc- 
cess, &c, he said, " when I came to this part of the country, I had not a rag to 
my back, now I am covered with rags " 

It is needless to remark that there are always some persons, of a certain class, 
in every country, who, in the midst of plenty, are continually experiencing a 
" want of every tiling." 



H A Y T 1 . 29 

port of Boston, It is an error then to suppose that 
there is a " want of every thing" in Hayti, or that there 
is less industry among the blacks of that country than 
in any other class of freemen living within the tropics. 
There cannot possibly be a " want of every thing" in a 
country whose commerce is so respectable in point of 
extent. 

Now, although Hayti has been better governed, and 
has evinced more zeal in her industrial pursuits during 
the last thirty years than any one of the Republics of 
South America, yet it is freely admitted that she does 
not occupy the place which all Christian people would 
rejoice to see her fill. If it were otherwise, neither the 
friendly recognition of the United States, nor the exer- 
cise of any other means for her advancement, would be 
required. 

That she has in turn suffered from the bad examples, 
cruelty, neglect, cupidity and interference of other na- 
tions is beyond, all doubt, and consequent upon a 
knowledge of this truth, is the wide-spread sympathy 
which has been manifested for her of late. If the lone 
traveller had not fallen among thieves, the Samaritan 
would not have stopped by the way-side. 



30 HAYTI 



The foregoing suggestions were all we intended to 
offer in relation to this subject, but since closing them, 
the private instructions of the Hon. Secretary of State 
to Mr. Walsh, have been placed before the country, and 
it will be seen that they have an important bearing on 
this matter. 

"We remarked at the opening of the preceding notes, 
that the action of the Government of the United 
States denoted a " foregone conclusion unfavorable to 
Hayti" but it was not until this late moment, that the 
grounds for this conclusion were visible. It will now 
be made manifest to those who have felt interest enough 
in the subject, to read what has lately been written in 
relation to it, that the Mission of Mr. Walsh was 
founded upon the grossest misapprehension on the part 
of the Hon. Secretary of State. A recurrence to two 
points in his private instructions will make this clear. 
The Hon. Secretary writes to the Commissioner as fol- 
lows : — " The mode of toarfare adopted by the Haytiens, 
impelled as they have been on former occasions, not by the 
lust of dominion only, but by their savage antipathy to a 
different race, is shocking to humanity.''' 1 Again he 
writes to the Commissioner, " the Dominicans have 
shown much gallantry in expelling the Haytiens in 1844, 
in repulsing the attempt to re-subjugate them." 

First, in regard to the antipathy of the Haytiens 
towards a " different race" — there is not now and has 



HAITI. 31 

never been a war of caste in Hayti since the clay of her 
independence, and in relation to the " re-subjugation" 
of the Dominicans, the thing was impossible, since they 
had never been subjugated. That the people of the 
Spanish part did not secede from the Government of 
Hayti, from any considerations pertaining to color, is 
seen in the fact that Herard, who was President of 
Hayti at that time, was himself a mulatto, and that 
there was not on his part the slightest denotement of 
hostility, much less a war of extermination. 

It will also be found that the most distinguished 
Dominican chiefs were mulattoes, and that it was not 
till after General Baez (a mulatto, then a representative 
from the Spanish part, and now President of Dominica) 
had signed the Constitution fixed upon in solemn con- 
vention by the representatives of Hayti, that he desert- 
ed the legitimate Government. It will further be seen 
that the incentives held forth to the United States for 
intervention were mere illusions — instead of having, as 
was represented, a population of 200,000, they had not 
one half that number, and of the 130,000 whites claim- 
ed for Dominica, not more than 5000, and probably not 
more than 3000 could be found in the whole Spanish 
part ; yet the Hon. Secretary, with impressions widely 
different, writes to Mr. Walsh in relation to the antipa- 
thy of the Haytiens to a " different racer A writer 
whose extensive opportunities for observation entitle 
his statements to great respect, says in an article on 
Hayti — " Dominica is not white. There are compara- 
tively very few whites there. Nearly if not all the in- 



32 H A YTI. 

habitants have negro blood in their veins, and in the 
United States would not even be respectable.''' Baez, the 
President, is a mulatto. 

Indeed, we are reliably informed from a gentleman 
who was on the spot at the time, that one of the reasons 
for rejecting Mr. Duff Green's famous plan for Ameri- 
can colonization, was the knowledge that white Americans 
were prejudiced against color, and would look down upon 
the natives as " niggers." 

In 1796, Moreau St. Mery, the best writer on the 
country, speaks of entire villages as populated by ne- 
groes. Bryan Edwards, who wrote in 1801, says that 
not 3000 of the population were whites ; and it is noto- 
rious that a great proportion of those left in 1822, when 
Boyer annexed the country. A writer in the American 
Revieiv (March, 1849J speaks of "far the greater ma- 
jority as varying from dark mulatto to yelloiv. It is then 
a mistake to speak of Dominica as anything but a mu- 
latto republic, and any sympathy awakened for it on the 
negrophobia principle is a sheer loss." 

In relation to the character and origin of the union 
between the Haytiens and the Dominicans, we have 
already said what we now re-affirm, that the people of 
the Spanish part of St. Domingo were not the victims 
of a forced or even a reluctant annexation. On the 
contrary, they sought a union with the Haytiens, and 
joyfully united with them under the rule of Boyer. In 
addition to the testimony given by the historian Brown 
on this point, we find in a later work, the following : — 
" In 1821, both the Spanish and French parts of the 



HAY T I. 33 

Island were united under Boyer, and for twenty-two years 
they remained together without difficulty. After Boyer 
had left the Government and the Island, a Convention 
was held to form a new Constitution ; this was finally 
completed and published on December 30, 1843. This 
Constittition, following the example of the United States, 
guaranteed liberty and equal tights to all denominations 
of religion. To the Spanish prejudices of the Eastern 
part, this was an intolerable thing, and when the article 
was adopted, several deputies from that section rose and 
withdrew from the Convention. They were intolerant 
Catholics, and ivould not consent to admit other profes- 
sions to equal privileges. Accordingly, on the 16th of 
January following, the Dominicans published their mani- 
festo, declaring themselves separate from and independent 
of Hayti." 

Another statement in relation to the affairs of Hayti 
at that period, contains the following : — " The Consti- 
tution they (the Haytiens) made, provided for perfect 
tolerance of all religious denominations ; that clause was 
opposed before it passed, and after it had passed, several 
deputies from the East left the Convention. Still, several 
other deputies remained and attached their names to the 
Constitution, as it was proclaimed. Among them was 
Baez, now 'President of the Dominican Republic. They 
went home, and soon after seceded, and set up that 
republic.'''' 

The " Revue cles Deux Mondes," says — " The intro- 
duction into the Haytien Constitution, of equal rights for 
all forms of worship, set the insurrection on foot. From 



34 HAYTI. 

the moment of the establishment of religious equality ', all 
the Districts in the Eastern (Dominican) part, prepared 
for the insurrection." 

We submit that in following the example of the 
United States, in relation to religious toleration, Hayti 
evinced an amount of wisdom which has not yet been 
reached by some nations who maintain a high position 
in the scale of civilization. 

Under these circumstances, if the Government had 
succumbed to the demands of a faction of intolerant 
Catholics, or to the demands of any other faction claim- 
ing to brand and to punish as heretics, those who could 
not conscientiously adopt their creed, it would have had 
much less claim than it now has, to the respect and 
kindly consideration of the friends of religious liberty 
in the United States. 

It is quite apparent that it was in the absence of a 
knowledge of the facts which are here stated, that the 
Hon. Secretary wrote to Mr. Walsh concerning the 
antipathy of the Haytiens to a " different race," and in 
relation to the re-subjugation of the Dominicans. 

The fact that the private instructions of the Hon. 
Secretary were not published with the other part of the 
correspondence, nor promulgated at all by the Govern- 
ment of the United States, indicates that the Adminis- 
tration had discovered that the expressions used were 
misapplied, and that there were really no just grounds 
for denouncing the Haytiens as a people aiming at the 
" re-subjugation" and slaughter of a " different race." 
So far as relates to the Hon. ]V[r. Webster, we are 



H A Y T I . 35 

satisfied that he had arrived at this conclusion ; for in 
an incidental but free conversation which the writer 
had with him (about three months before his death, and 
fifteen months after the close of the Mission) on the 
subject of Hayti, he gave no denotement of any unfa- 
vorable impressions in regard to the Haytien character. 
He spoke of the Emperor Souloque, (as he called liim,) 
in no other terms than those of respect. He listened 
with marked attention to several explanations which 
were earnestly submitted to him, and when assured 
that the grave charge of massacre by the Haytiens in 
1848 was without foundation in truth — that there was 
no more of a massacre than would be seen in the streets 
of Boston, if the execution of the fugitiye slave law 
should be forcibly opposed — that in brief, the least pos- 
sible amount of blood was shed that could be, consist- 
ently with the restoration of order, he replied with 
apparent satisfaction — " I have heard that on that 
day the Haytien soldiers aimed to miss." 

In relation to the Memorial to Congress for the 
recognition of Hayti, Mr. Webster expressed unquali- 
fied approbation of the course which had been taken. 

Under these circumstances the writer submits that in 
preparing the first pamphlet on Hayti, he deemed it 
inexpedient to make any allusion to this unfortunate 
Mission. He did not decline to notice it because he 
supposed that any doubt existed, as to the fact that the 
movement conflicted with a principle, founded, as the 
distinguished men of the nation have declared, " no 
less injustice than policy;" he did not believe, and he 



36 H A Y T I . 

trusts that he has shown that he had no reason to be- 
lieve, that the Administration still entertained a convic- 
tion that Hayti was far enough removed from the pale 
of civilization to justify intervention on any score, 
much less on the score of humanity. He does not now 
believe that the Government entertained this fallacy, 
except for a very brief period, for it is obvious that 
either the barbarous characteristics and the terrible de- 
signs of the chief of Hayti were found to be phantoms, 
or the great Powers were most unworthy champions in 
the cause of humanity. 

The Mission, after a fitful, feverish existence of a 
few months, had expired — it had breathed its last, and 
although its " epitaph had no claim to be written with 
a pen dipped in tears," yet there was after all, no dis- 
position manifested in any quarter, to abuse its memory 
on the score of intentional wrong ; and, as we have 
said before, except for the publication of the corres- 
pondence, it would have remained quietly in-urned for- 
ever — it would have slept the sleep which knows no 
waking. 

In conclusion, the best that can be said of this 
movement, so far as the United States was concerned, 
is, that it was a great mistake, and from what has 
transpired since the first partial exhibition of the cor- 
respondence, and from other circumstances, (which it 
may never be necessary to allude to more particu- 
larly,) it may be considered certain, that the magnitude 
of the mistake will never be lessened by any attempt 
to change its character. 





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